134 THE CHERRIES OF NEW YORK 



inconspicuous; stem slender, one inch long, adherent to the fruit; skin thin, rather tough, 

 separating from the pulp; flesh pale yellow, with light pinkish juice, stringy, tender and 

 melting, sprightly, pleasant flavored; good to very good in quality; stone free, small, 

 roundish-ovate, slightly pointed, with smooth siuiaces; somewhat roughened along the 

 ventral suture. 



ELKHORN 



Prunus avium 



I. Prince Pom. Man. 2:117. 1832. 2. Elliott Fr. Book 213. 1854. 3. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 24. 

 1899. 



John Tradescantes Cherrie. 4. Parkinson Par. Ter. 574. 1629. 



Hertogs-Kers. 5. Knoop Fructologie 2:36, 40. 1771. 



Crosse Schwarze Knorpelkirsche. 6. Truchsess-Heim Kirschensort. 180-192. 1819. 7. Dochnahl 

 Fiihr. Obstkunde 3:36. 1858. 8. ///. Handb. 89 fig., 90. i860. 9. Lauche Deiit. Pom. Ill: No. 6, PI. 

 1882. ID. Mathieu Nom. Pom. 357, 358. 1889. 



Tradescant's Black Heart. 11. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 188 fig., 189. 1845. 12. Thompson Card. 

 Ass't 526. 1859. 13. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 74. 1862. 



Gros Bigarreau Noir. 14. Mortillet Le Cerisier 2:108-111, fig. 24. 1866. 15. Leroy Diet. Pom. 

 5:224, 225 fig., 226. 1877. 



St. Margaret's Cherry. 16. Flor. & Pom. 105, PI. 542. 1881. 



Elkhorn has served its day and is now being rapidly superseded by 

 other cherries of the Bigarreau group to which it belongs. It was valued 

 by the old pomologists because of the large size of the fruit, the firm flesh, 

 late ripening, rich flavor, and because it hangs well on the tree long after 

 maturity. But it fails in competition with other Bigarreaus in bearing 

 cherries quite variable in size, in the diminishing size of the fruit as the 

 trees attain age and more than all else in being but moderately productive. 

 The bark of the trunk and main branches is so heavily overspread with 

 gray as to make this a distinguishing mark. The fruit, too, is distinct in 

 appearance by reason of the irregular stuface of the skin. The variety 

 possesses no characters, as it usually grows, to make it worth planting 

 either for home or market. 



The history of this old cherry was almost hopelessly confused by 

 the early horticvdturists by the vast number of names they used for it, 

 many of which belonged to other varieties. Elkhorn is supposed to have 

 been raised by John Tradescant, gardener to Charles I of England, under 

 the name Tradescant's Black Heart. Of this cherry, John Parkinson in 

 1629 says: " John Tradescantes Cherrie is most usually sold by our 

 Nursery Gardiners, for the Archdukes cherrie, because they have more 

 plenty thereof, and will better be increased, and because it is so faire and 

 good a cherrie that it may be obtruded without much discontent: it is a 

 reasonably good bearer, a faire great berrie, deepe coloured, and a little 



